No comments about Insight City Guide Tokyo (Insight City Guides (Book & Restaruant Guide)).

No comments about Japan: The Cycle of Life.

1 comments about Seeing Kyoto.

1. "Seeing Kyoto" is a picturesque travel guide that is strong on beautiful photos and suggestions for walking routes. However, the image the book presents of Kyoto only captures a narrow slice of what Kyoto is really like. Kyoto is a large Japanese city with all of the crowding and drab concrete buldings that one associates with Tokyo. Yet within this bustling city, there are also beautiful tourist destinations that are unfortunately overwhelmed with tourists. "Seeing Kyoto" is a beautiful book with idealized images of Kyoto. Take this book with a large grain of salt.

No comments about Osaka Travel Map: 2nd Edition (Periplus Travel Maps).

3 comments about Culture Shock! Japan (Culture Shock! Guides).

1. As an administrator in a ESL school, where 10% of our students come from Japan, and at least 10% of our ESL teachers trainees plan on going to Japan to teach English, Culture Shock Japan was an wonderful discovery for me! P. Sean Bramble unveiled the cultural mystery step by step from every aspect of life. It's a great reference book for anyone, no matter whether you are planning a trip to Japan, moving to Japan for a long period of time, your work involves dealing with Japanese culture like mine, or you are simply curious about this modern and ancient eastern country. One of my favorite things about the book are the hilarious little stories that Bramble collected from his own 12 years of experience living and working in Japan, which gave me many giggles through out the reading.
   
   Those stories are particularly funny to me, because they often echo my own experience of of culture shock when I first immigrated to the United States from China 7 years ago. Although, I am completely annoyed when people get confused between Japan and China, there are after all lots of similarities when it comes to clashes between Asian and western cultures.
   
   I also admire the fact that the author was willing to take the risk of being accused as negative or judgmental to honestly point out the frustrating reality of living and dealing with a new culture in a tongue in cheek manner. Unlike promotional travel books, which only portray the wonders of a destination, this book gives unvarnished insight into a country where modernity meets ancient traditions, efficiency is created by rules but also destroyed by rules. It gives insider's advices on how a new comer can be prepared to begin understanding, embracing, and even having a bit of fun with the culture he is about to clash into. As I closed the book, I felt as if I had just finished a tour lead by an experienced open heart with a true sense of humor. I am now much more ready for a real trip to Japan.



2. 
   The book does contain usefull information, but it left me with an awkward feeling after reading.
   It describes the 'typically Japanese things' from a personal western point of view, without explaining why, how, what, etc.
   -Japan is a weird and silly country, but there are nice temples-
   Or is it the writer that is the culture shock ?
   If you want an objective book about Japan, keep searching.



3. I was stationed overseas for about 1 1/2 years before I read the book. Many questions I had were answered. This book explains a lot of the everyday things you'll see/notice in Japan. Not much of a history book (which wasn't what I was looking for @ the time) but a very modern explanation of all the strange things Japanese people do.
   
   I highly recommend this book for anyone that is going to live in Japan for an extended period of time.

1 comments about Strange Big Moon: The Japan and India Journals, 1960-1964.

1. This book reminds me of Sei Shonagon, but the cast of characters is often well-known Beat writers. Kyger was married to Beat saint Gary Snyder at the time, but she is iconoclastic in regards to presenting him here. The arc of the book is their love story -- beginning with a shy and rather impressed Kyger and ending with a rather loud and irreverent Kyger. Early on she worships Snyder, but then he knocks her down and splits her head open on a wood table when she refuses to do the dishes. He is surly throughout the book, and given to bad moods, and kicks her at least twice.

   Kyger gets it all down.

   Beat saint Allen Ginsberg grabs his food at the communal dining hour and shoves his face full without waiting for others to be served. Orlovsky is shoving drugs in his face every moment that he can.

   This is a funny book that knocks out stereotypes left and right. In one or two sentences she undoes the career of Paul Blackburn, for instance. And all the while she is musing on the possibility of a female literature, and what it might consist of -- something for which she had no clear legacy in American but the Japanese writers of the Heian period such as Sei Shonagon appear to have given her the inspiration needed.

   This is a very good book for those who are tired of the Beats self-sanctification, and want a bit of humorous and unsparing insight into their world.

1 comments about Drifting Toward the Southeast: The Story of Five Japanese Castaways.

1. Although John Manjiro never came to Maui, an annual dance festival in his honor has been held in Lahaina several times. Now, for the first time in English, we have the man's story in his own words, as translated by Junya Nagakuni and Junji Kitadai and accompanied by gorgeous reproductions of the illustrations that decorated his handwritten 1852 account -- words and pictures that helped revolutionize Japan, even though they circulated in a limited number of handwritten copies, each with a somewhat different set of illustrations.
   Manjiro was a poor fisherman, too low in status even to have a family name, when he and four companions were shipwrecked on Hurricane Island (Tori Shima) in 1841. At the time, Japan was almost cut off from the rest of the world.
   The quintet was rescued by an American whaling captain, and the older men were taken to Oahu, where one of them married an islander and disappeared from history. Manjiro, only 14, was taken to New Bedford and educated in English, Christianity, surveying and navigation and coopering.
   He spent six of the next 10 years at sea, as he and his companions struggled to return to Japan. Whether they understood that, by law, returned exiles were subject to execution is uncertain, but according to the editors, there is no record that the Shogunate actually did kill any returnees.
   However, on one attempt to land, the local Japanese were frightened enough to run away from the suspect exiles.
   The American captain, then, refused to let his refugees land, carrying them back across the ocean.
   The bitter disappointment of the yearning exiles must have been profound, but Manjiro, a stoic, relates his dismay in just a line.
   In 1852, Manjiro, who also used the American name John Mung, and two of the others managed to get close to home on a whaler and then to sail a whaleboat into Okinawa, a somewhat more welcoming re-entry point than the home islands had been earlier. It was happily timed for Manjiro, because just one year later Commodore Matthew Perry came demanding trade and refuge for whaleships, whether the Japanese wanted it or not.
   Other castaways had made it home earlier; in fact, footnotes to this edition of Manjiro's "Hyoson Kiryaku" ("Brief Account of Drifting toward the Southeast") suggest that Japanese waifs were thinly spread all over the Pacific in the mid-19th century.
   The connection of Manjiro to Lahaina comes from this little diaspora. Four other shipwrecked Japanese sailors had landed in Lahaina in 1838 -- before Manjiro ever left home -- and were given succor by missionaries. Manjiro's later fame rubbed off on these men, who never played the role in introducing the two nations to each other that he did; and in legend Manjiro became a visitor to Maui, but his charts reproduced in "Hyoson Kiryaku" show that he landed on Oahu several times but never on Maui.
   A few elite Japanese at home had learned something about the outside world before Perry showed up, including a samurai, Kawada Shoryo, who was assigned to write down Manjiro's story.
   Shoryo, an accomplished painter, also elaborated Manjiro's sketches.
   The book was a sensation, though not available to very many. The power elite of Meiji Japan saw it, though.
   Only a few copies survive, with illustrations of variable quality.
   Shoryo had European books and prints, supplied by the Dutch at Nagasaki, to help with street scenes as described and roughly sketched for him by Manjiro, but some things were utterly mystifying to stay-at-home Japanese.
   One illustration of a "sea horse" looks like a deformed horse, and the editors speculate that perhaps it was an attempt to draw a walrus from no more than a verbal description.
   Since Manjiro said he had seen it while sailing around Cape Horn, it could not have been a walrus. Was the sailor spinning a yarn, just once, in his otherwise very serious account of suffering and revelation?
   Whichever, John Manjiro comes across as an attractive personality.
   He went to California in the Gold Rush and struck it rich -- $600 for only 70 days work. According to Kuwada, "he thought it would be indecent to continue" and set off for Honolulu to collect other stray Japanese and go home.
   Once there, he became an expert, though the Shogunate officials never quite trusted him, suspecting him of being a pawn in an American plot.
   Manjiro did much better when the Meiji emperor took over, becoming a samurai, a university teacher, translator of Bowditch's "New American Practical Navigator," author of a primer for teaching English and acquiring the privilege of a patrynomic, Nakahama.
   The editors comment, though, that "Manjiro must have struggled inwardly with his own identity and the clash of different cultures." When he died in 1898, they say, he "must have felt great satisfaction that his self-appointed mission to open Japan to the West was accomplished."
   Their final assessment is that "Manjiro's real message was perhaps born out of his inner struggle between 'John Mung' and 'Nakahama Manjiro.' Out of this unique identity crisis came wisdom and character."

5 comments about Sake and Satori: Asian Journals -- Japan (Asian Journals).

1. This is the long awaited 2nd part of Joseph Campbell's journals of his trip to the Orient in the Fifties. The first, Baksheesh and Brahman, told of India, and this book tells of other countries but mainly Japan. The book reads like a journal with varied entries about traveling, people and places of interest, etc. The post-war mood is obvious, and the political climate is interesting.
   This book is less naive than the first where JC was disappointed by the spiritual/caste hypocrisy of India, and more insightful of modern Oriental life.



2. ". . . passages convey his appetite for the sights and sounds of Japan. For Campbell, religion was a subset of mythology, and the exposure to Japanese Buddhism was important to the next leg of his journey as a scholar. "Sake & Satori" is a glimpse of a supple mind, mid-career."
   - Shambala Sun Magazine



3. Sake & Santori is the fifth volume in a series of collected works of philosopher/spiritualist Joseph Campbell and focuses upon his cultural and spiritual interactions with Japan during his 1950s Asian journey. The changing social and political world of Japan come to life in a a set of entries relating Campbell's discourses with Japanese from all walks of life.



4. "Sake and Satori: Asian Journals, Japan" is a travel journal, containing Joseph Campbell's musings and reflections during his 1950s Asian journey through Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Taiwan, Thailand and mostly Japan. The Japanese journey takes up around 75% of the book.
   
   During his Japanese stay, encompassing several months, Campbell was taken around Japan by a variety of people, from American Buddhists to Japanese Professors. He saw many of the major sights of Japanese religion, in areas such as Tokyo, Nara and Kyoto. He was shown Japanese traditional arts such as Noh and Kabuki theatre, as well as hostess bars and houses of prostitution. Along with this are intricate discussions on Buddhism in Japan with local experts, and a mental ordering of ideas that was later to become "The Masks of God."
   
   Frankly, the book is not as interesting as I was hoping. I wanted to peek into Campbell's mind, and hear his reflections on Japanese culture and religion. I wanted insights and personal thoughts about the temples and monuments of Japan that he was seeing, such as the Great Buddha of Nara. Instead, more attention is paid in the journal to which restaurants he went to that day, and how he is progressing with his Japanese language studies, and what old friends he met that day and such. He goes to restaurants and studies Japanese more than anything else, but even with these there is little insight, and mostly statements of facts.
   
   A standard entry is along the lines of "Tuesday: Had breakfast at cute old inn. Very delicious. Was taken to see Great Buddha at Todaiji in Nara in the afternoon. Came back to Kyoto for dinner, a nice Indian restaurant. In the evening, wrote letters to Jean, and studied Japanese. I think I am getting the hang of it!"
   
   There is much more insight and process of Indian culture than Japanese, and Campbell is clearly still bitter about his journey to India. There are many comparisons of Indian and other Asian cultures, reflecting how they got it "right" and Indian culture is stuck in a quagmire. Reading the first volume of the Asian Journals will help put all of this into perspective.
   
   There is some good stuff here, and it is an interesting read, but it is probably more for those interested in Campbell as a person than those hoping for unique insights into Japan and Japanese culture. In one passage, Campbell wonders if he has not perhaps wasted his trip to Japan by spending long hours studying Japanese language rather than experiencing the country. I could not help but think the same thing.



5. [Review written Aug 2004]
   
   This review covers "Sake & Satori", which is part 2 (of 2) of a real-life journey around the world undertaken by Joseph Campbell. "Baksheesh & Brahman" (part 1 of 2) covers the first half of his adventure.
   
   Allow me to backpedal a bit, because, as with nearly all of Dr. Campbell's works, a bit of background information and explanation is required in order to put things in their proper perspective.
   
   Back in 1955, Dr. Campbell was a senior professor in the literature department of Sarah Lawrence College in the USA, where he taught classes in medieval literature and comparative religion. He was also a master of languages (speaking more than 12 at the time, and later many more), a recognized authority on art history, and already fast becoming a highly sought after authority and lecturer in a wide range of fields in various academic circles. He was one of those rare and blazingly bright intellects that people just seemed to LOVE to gravitate to and hover around, like moths to an open flame. Even after his death in 1987, people continue to be fired by his brilliant and far-reaching works ... even though much of it was unfinished at the time of his death and is only just now being released posthumously (as this book was).
   
   In any case, in 1955 he received a very generous travel grant from the Bollingen Foundation that enabled him to take a 1 year hiatus from his teaching duties, and literally travel around the world. During those travels, he kept a daily personal journal of his adventures, including his day to day experiences, meetings & conversations (both chance, social, and professional), thoughts and insights, and even his plans for the future.
   
   That journal formed the source material for 2 books (published posthumously):
   
   * "Baksheesh & Brahman: Asian Journals - India (part 1 of 2)
   * "Sake & Satori: Asian Journals - Japan" (part 2 of 2) <-- YOU ARE HERE
   
   This book (Sake & Satori) offers a rare glimpse into the day to day experiences of a brilliant, driven, and deeply curious people-loving scholar on a grand journey comparable to Heinlein's `Stranger in a Strange Land" ... wherein the author TOTALLY immerses himself in each new country's culture - their social manners, art, music, religion, and language. He worked every day, tirelessly, from dawn until bedtime, touring, discussing, and studying ... determined to wring as much as he possibly could (in the time allowed) from this grand, once in a lifetime, opportunity. His sheer industriousness boggles the mind.
   
   A typical day might include:
   * Breakfast with friend/scholar/acquaintance X,
   * A field trip to a local place of interest - such as a museum, temple, an important cultural event, or to meet a scholarly V.I.P.
   * Language classes in the native tongue, followed by several more hours of intensive self study, followed by bringing his journal up to date for the previous day's adventures & observations.
   * A long brisk walk, meeting people and seeing the sights to be seen.
   * Dinner and long discussions with friend/scholar/acquaintance Y & Z.
   * Arranging logistics for the next day's travels.
   
   In any case, part 2 (Sake & Satori) picks up his journey (already in progress) on March 4th, 1955. The author had just concluded the first 6 months of his trip exploring India ... his journeys there having been something of an informal capstone to a 13 year side project in which he'd selflessly organized and posthumously published** the papers of one of his mentors: renowned Indologist Dr. Heinrich Zimmer ...
   
   >> "Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization
   >> The Philosophies of India
   >> The King and the Corpse
   
   **{1st ASIDE: it was a bit of an odd experience reading the posthumously published observations (of someone whom I consider to be a personal mentor) who, in turn, pauses to reflect (in the middle of their own account) about having posthumously published the observations of their own mentor in turn ... yeah, turn that one around in your head a few times - you really gain an appreciation about how people's lives ripple through time, reflecting and harmonizing with still more waves that came before us and which always come after we ourselves eventually fade away)
   
   The first 28 days of this book cover his touring of Ceylon, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Hong Kong, and Formosa (Taiwan), where he spends roughly 4-5 days in each country. That first month was very rough for him, because he was deeply unsettled by his experiences in India (I'll write about that in a separate forthcoming review for part 1 of this series).
   
   Then we move on to the meat of the book when he finally reaches Japan, where he spends the next 5 months completely immersing himself in the language, culture, religion (Buddhism & Shinto), academic politics, and art of the land - which, at the time, was still under post WWII American occupation**.
   
   **{2nd ASIDE: yet another odd experience, giving our current (as of this writing) deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan - the tension between rightwing conservatives and the leftwing liberal/communists back in Campbell's day is just as stark as it is now ... very interesting. Equally odd is how starkly all of the America bashing in the current liberal-leaning media stands in stark contrast to the decidedly more restrained America bashing that happened in Campbell's post-WWII day. Back then, we really were the powerhouse of the world ... we were using our booming economy to basically rebuild all of Europe and Japan, and it was largely just Russia, India, and China that distrusted and disliked us (largely because they had different political ideologies and/or they were economic have-nots). Everyone else pretty much liked (or at worst, merely tolerated) us. All of the major nations were either on the American "Marshall Plan" dole, or they were trying to figure out how they could mug us and/or pick our pockets.}
   
   To conclude - reading this book is a truly heady experience, both culturally, and historically, and the author's sheer tirelessness and brilliance left me feeling not only inspired and amazed, but also strangely diminished ... this was a man whose passage through life and distant lands created a huge academic bow wave whose ripples are still being felt today, years after his death.
   
   Part of the essential experience of reading one of Campbell's works is the feeling of being swept up, carried along in the rolling waves of his insights and musings, and then afterwards being left bobbing in his wake to ponder and reflect where the experience has carried you, and how your own perspectives have evolved as a result.
   
   I enjoyed this book immensely.
   
   ----------
   [Addendum]
   
   Another thing that I appreciated about this book, which is often present in many of campbell's books, are the meticulous, extensive, and very helpful appendices, footnotes, endnotes, glossary, and index. The editors did a great job in supplying that information ... it's a true labor of love.
   
   It's great to be able to open a page at random, encounter a cryptic reference, and then look up the helpful footnote to see it properly explained, along with providing a cross-reference to one of campbell's other works that explores the topic more fully. It's also neat seeing campbell's thoughts for future works and lectures footnoted as well - with info on whether or not he eventually acted on those plans in the ensuing decades of his career (in most cases, he did).

No comments about Business Passport to Japan: Revised and Updated Edition.

No comments about Tokyo Style File: A Shopping Guide.